


Surely You Believe Something Of Yourself?

by fantasticaldaydreams



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Death, M/M, More tags as I go, Torture, Violence, i promise the torture/rape scenes if there are any wont be graphic, probably, tw for a lot of stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-11 20:20:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5640595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fantasticaldaydreams/pseuds/fantasticaldaydreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“...I can make it home on my own. I have every night before this.”</p><p>She watched as his face fell a bit. “I’m sorry, then, I must get along with my business, Miss.”</p><p>Her eyebrows furrowed. “What business?”</p><p>--</p><p>aka the "When you kill someone, you gain what they thought was their best trait" au that no one really asked for mixed with some fun dystopian/v for vendetta esque shit</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. een

**Author's Note:**

> (note to self: dutch)
> 
> So I was going through my fic idea list, kinda thinking "I need to write something short and fluffy to get myself known around here."
> 
> Instead I take on another fic that'll probably be quite long. Definitely longer than my other demon one.
> 
> And I have no clue how I'm gonna end either of 'em. 
> 
> As usual, please comment if you have anything to say about this, and I do have a tumblr on my prof page where you can request/prompt stuffs.

“So, Miss, ah,”

 

“Lisen, Miss Lisen. And I don’t believe I got your name, either?”

 

A smirk. “I’m afraid I don’t give out my name easily. Continuing on, Miss Lisen, how are you?”

 

“Oh, secretive, I see. Odd of you to be in such a place; everyone knows everyone here. Or at least, we know the lies of names and faces given to us.” A pause. “But I am alright, worried about those vigilantes, but I’d prefer to stray from that topic. I’m tired of it, see, as it’s all I see on the news; another place bombed, another kidnapped official, another killing.”

 

“I prefer not to lie.” Another pause. “And I will respect your wish; the topic is tiring to me. What do you do?”

 

“As a profession? I am a--”

 

“No, not as a profession. What do you like? Art, music, perhaps reading?” A pause, and a grin. “You don’t read any of  _ those _ books, do you?”

 

“Oh, no. Not at all! They’re forbidden! But I do enjoy weaving, I spend quite a bit of my spare time weaving baskets, you know, like how they used to.”

 

“Like how they used to? It must have been hard to learn, most books on older things have been declared forbidden, and surely few people passed it down the generations for the past couple hundred years.”

 

“It was hard to learn, yes, but worth it. I enjoy doing things traditionally, even if it is frowned upon,”

 

“Hopefully they don’t declare such ideas forbidden, rather than just frowned upon.”

 

“Yes, hopefully, but if they do then I understand; they have valid reasons for banning such things.”

 

“Do they?”

 

“Oh, please, you sound like those vigilantes! Questioning everything.”

 

“My apologies for bringing you back to this topic, Miss.”

 

“It’s quite alright, but I’ll be taking my leave now.”

 

“Of course. I do hope you enjoy the rest of the party.”

 

“I’m sure I will.”

 

Silence.

 

\--

 

“Oh, why hello there! I was just making my way back home before curfew, you know how it is. I still never got your name.”

 

“And you won’t, Miss Lisen.” 

 

A young man stood in front of her, brown eyes seemingly glowing in the dimming light of the sun. It was nearly 8 PM, still early for the rush of people trying to arrive to their homes before curfew at ten, but for those who would have to take a bus or train ride, it was easier to leave early. 

 

Miss Lisen clutched at her bag slightly. “Are you here to rob me? I’d think someone who got into such a party as earlier wouldn’t need to rob me.”

 

“You’re a very intelligent woman, Miss Lisen. I am not here to rob you.”

 

She watched as he shuffled his hands a little, shoving one in a pocket. He seemed to have slipped into more common clothes, much different than what he had worn before, a sleek suit-and-tie look that she had thought made him look quite handsome. If she had been younger, she might have thought of flirting with the young man, but as it was, she was too old to do such a thing. 

 

Now she was more worried than interested in the man. “What do you want?”

 

“Can a man walk an intelligent lady as yourself home?”

 

“No.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“...I can make it home on my own. I have every night before this.”

 

She watched as his face fell a bit. “I’m sorry, then, I must get along with my business, Miss.”

 

Her eyebrows furrowed. “What business?”

 

The man looked genuinely sad for a minute, before swiftly pulling out a knife and slicing her throat.

 

“I had to do it, Miss. I’m sorry.”

 

He glanced around to make sure no one saw him, then fled the scene, stars just barely starting to peek through. 

 

\--

 

“Are you kidding me?! Weaving?! I killed her for fucking weaving?! She was intelligent! She had to have known that! But no, her best fucking trait in her eyes was fucking weaving. God damnit.”

  
Tyler grumbled to himself, grabbing some random pieces of garbage and weaving them together absentmindedly. “Killed her for nothing,” He muttered. 


	2. twee

“Hey, Tyler, anything new?”

Tyler sighed, shrugging off his hoodie and throwing it over a nearby chair. “No leads, and the one person I thought could help me with this just gave me weaving.”

He huffed as he heard laughs fill the air. “Weaving? Seriously? And you went through all that trouble to find her, too,”

“Yeah, yeah.” Tyler paused and sniffed the air, then grumbled again. “I know this place is supposed to look like shit for security purposes, but it doesn’t have to smell like shit, too.”

“I’ll set some of the others on cleaning up; it’s been a busy week. One of the new kids almost led a spy right to this place. It’s a miracle we haven’t been found yet, those kids are so stupid.”

Tyler shrugged, making his way over to the computer chair, in which sat Mark, who continued to grumble on about the new recruits. “I don’t even know if we can trust them, anyway,” he finished.

“Give them time, Mark. We were just as stupid.”

“No, no. We were smarter than them, I swear.”

“Mhm.” Tyler turned to look at the actual computer. “Anything new for you guys?”

“Nothing. Thought we’d found a way to break security here,” Mark pointed to a spot on the screen, depicting a blueprint of a building with many areas left unfinished. “But no luck. If we knew the layout of the building, we could probably guess the areas to look for weaknesses more, but we don’t. We need someone inside.”

“Yeah, good luck with that. Every time we’ve tried getting someone inside, either they’ve ratted us out or gotten killed-- and gotten some of us killed.” Tyler sighed, pulling up another chair, staring intently at the screen, as if looking at it from a different angle could help him see something he hadn’t before.

“No leads, no inside information, no weaknesses found, and we’re losing our own security while we’re at it. At this rate, we might be back to square one within a month.”

Tyler remained silent, turning away from the computer. “We’ll figure something out,” He eventually murmured, more for himself than for Mark. “How’re Pete and Pat doing?”

“Okay, I guess. They’re still trying to find info on the industrial leaders, and they haven’t gotten much but at least they haven’t been caught.”

“They’re some of the best spies we have; if they get caught, then we don’t stand a chance.”

Mark sighed, and Tyler got up, moving to his own computer. “Did you at least find any other people who might have desirable traits?”

Mark glanced at Tyler, and muttered, “Yeah. There’s some people; I sent the list to you, you’ll see it when you log in.”

Tyler nodded, quickly typing in the information necessary. “Are you still bugged about me killing people?”

“Honestly? A little bit. Even if you do get something from it, I can’t imagine killing someone. But, hey, you’re a valuable part of the team because of what you do, so. I try not to think about it.”

Tyler watched Mark for a moment, who met his eyes and quickly turned to his computer.

Shrugging, Tyler turned back to his computer as well, pulling up the list of people and desired traits.

       Alexander Shelton: Empathy | Survival Instinct  
       Jasmine Cunningham: Good with words | Empathy  
       Joshua Dun: Musical Talent | Empathy | Ability to sense character of strangers  
       Elizabeth Parker: Story-telling | Fast-Thinking | Empathy  
       Kara Stokes: Empathy | Puzzle-Solving  
       Randall Paige: Empathy | Pattern-Finding | Lying

“Every one of these people has empathy. Tryin’ to tell me something, Mark?” Tyler turned towards the other, grinning.

“Well, you do have a lack of empathy,” Mark said, then shrugged. “Nah, you know I don’t choose the list, I just finalize it. Also, I heard that they want you to try a different tactic. The one they said would be a bad idea just last month.”

“The one where I try to convince them their best trait is something else before I kill them?”

“Yeah.”

Tyler rolled his eyes. “We need smarter people running this thing. At least here, I only answer to you.”

Mark grinned. “That’s right. I’m the bossman here! Anyways, yeah, they want you try that out. Good luck.”

“Thanks. Who should I go for first, you think?”

Mark leaned over to look at the list, eyes scanning each line multiple times. “Josh, maybe? A sense of character’s pretty useful, and so is empathy.”

“I already said they all have empathy.”

“Still.”

Tyler shrugged. “I guess my next target is Joshua Dun, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yoo leave a comment if you're liking this so far
> 
> also if you find any spelling or grammar errors 'cause i dont have a beta and im too lazy to edit this


	3. drie

Josh bit his lip slightly, concentrating on the sound of his drum set, trying to tune it. It’d been a while since he used a drum set, not helped by the fact that you had to have a permit to use one (legally, anyway). He considered himself lucky; he’d found a set on the black market, and some sound-proofing padding for the basement he lived in. He’d have to get Debby or someone to stand outside to see if anyone could hear him outside when drumming; he hoped not, but it was certainly a possibility. 

 

Either way, there was no way he could be found with this drumset. The second he’d found it, he’d rearranged the basement of his house, creating a hidden room (behind a bookcase, as cliche as that is) to put the set in.

 

He sighed happily after he finished setting up, pushing away the urge to play right then and there. He needed to make sure no one could hear it. In all honesty, he was giddy just over the fact that he  _ had a drumset.  _ Grinning to himself, he took one last look at the set and left the room, making sure the bookshelf was lined up correctly from the outside. 

 

_ I don’t know how the rebels do it. It took all I had to figure out how to set this up, and this is only a drumset. I can’t imagine hiding an entire base.  _

 

Josh shook his head slightly, pushing away thoughts of the rebels. When he was a kid, he’d wanted to be one; it seemed exciting, exhilarating, and maybe fun, too. He forced himself to stop fantasizing about being a rebel when he was 14, and saw a group of rebels being shot to death in a shopping center he’d been in at the time. His mother had tried to cover his eyes before it happened, but the images of bodies falling still haunted him a little. 

 

He’d told his mom that night he would never risk his life like that; he doubted she even knew he thought about being one in the first place, but he’s sure it put her mind at ease. 

 

Now that she wasn’t around anymore, and he had cut ties with the rest of his family, the thoughts started coming back. He supposed it didn’t help that he bought an illegal drumset. 

 

He sighed, and pulled out his phone, sending a text over to Debby:  _ hey, if you aren’t busy do you want to come over and help me with something? _

 

Josh would give quite a bit to not have to worry about his wording in texts. Or phone calls. Everything was monitored, even if they said it wasn’t. He felt kind of bad for the people who didn’t have the sense to be careful using their phones, or speaking in public places. 

 

Josh is honestly quite surprised they haven’t started putting cameras and mics in people’s homes, though he supposed that wasn’t for lack of trying. 

 

He was shaken out of his thoughts when his phone buzzed, and he quickly read Debby’s reply of  _ sure, be there in a few  _ before replying in an affirmative. He glanced around, and figured he should straighten up a little. It was a small, trashy house, but that didn’t mean he had to add to that look. He was in the middle of gathering up some dirty clothes when there was a knock on his door; he dropped the clothes into a basket and went to answer it, expecting Debby.

 

But it wasn’t Debby. It was some man he’d never seen before. 

 

It took Josh a moment before he said anything. “Uh, hi, why’re you here?” Kind of a mean response, he supposed, but he’d rather know this stranger’s intentions than be fighting with pleasantries. 

 

The stranger appeared to think so, too, for he smiled a little as he answered. “There’s a house nearby that I was looking at, but I wanted to see how the neighbors were before I moved in.”

 

Josh raised an eyebrow. “Seems a bit nit-picky to worry about neighbors,” He said. 

 

“I don’t want to be surrounded by anyone extremely loyal or disloyal to the government.”

 

Josh nodded. “Well, I’m just an average worker, so you don’t have to worry about me,” He said, ignoring the sense of guilt he felt when he thought of the drumset.  _ An illegal drumset doesn’t make me ‘extremely disloyal to the government’. It’s fine. _ “So do I get your name?”

 

The stranger appeared to think that over for a moment. “No, sorry. I’m uncomfortable with giving out my name.”

 

“Is there a nickname I can call you, because ‘the stranger’ or ‘the maybe-neighbor’ is kind of annoying?” 

 

This time the stranger did smile a bit. “You can call me TJ, if you want.”

 

Josh smiled. “Cool. And, uh, you can just call me Josh.”

 

“That’s your name, or…?”

 

“Yeah. I don’t mind people knowing my name.”

 

Josh tried to ignore the flash of  _ something  _ that went through the str-- TJ’s eyes. “Well, it must make your life easier than mine.”

 

Shrugging, Josh glanced back inside his house. “Well, I have a friend coming over so I’m gonna have to ask you to leave…”

 

TJ nodded. “I might see you again.”

 

“Okay. Good luck either way, TJ.” 

 

“Thanks.”

 

Josh was standing next to his door, inside his house, trying to figure out what had happened with that interaction, when Debby finally showed up. 

 

\--

 

“It’s just weird, because he doesn’t seem  _ bad,  _ really, just odd. I watched out a window when he walked away, and he didn’t go to visit anyone else, he just left. And I don’t think there’s a house for sale around here, but maybe there’s one the next road down, I’m not sure. And he’s worried about neighbors? I barely even see anyone else around here, does he come from a place with people mingling a lot?”

 

“Josh,” Debby cut in during his pause for breath. “you’re rambling. Didn’t you want something, other than to talk to me about this mystery person?” 

 

“Oh! Yeah.” Josh leaned in, talking a bit quieter. “I got a drumset-- I know, I know, it’s illegal, still. I got one, downstairs, set up, I want you to stand around in various areas to see if you can hear me play outside the basement.”

 

He watched as Debby closed her eyes for a moment. “I can’t believe you.”

 

He remained silent, watching Debby expectantly. 

 

“Fine, fine, quit giving me that puppy-dog look. I’ll just roam around while you play, and text you if I can hear it.”

 

Josh grinned. “I knew you were my best friend for a reason.”

 

Debby gave him a long look. “This is it, though, okay?” At Josh’s confused look, she elaborated. “Don’t be pulling me into anything more illegal than this. I don’t want you getting caught up in…” She trailed off. 

 

“Don’t worry. I don’t want to die.”

 

He knew his answer wasn’t exactly comforting, but she accepted it nonetheless. “Go start playing, I’ll walk around, pretending I’m looking for something outside your house.”

 

“Thanks, Debs.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> poor joshie


	4. vier

Newscast Intermission.

 

“Hello, and welcome. It is now Seven PM, thus time for the evening news with Johnathan Wilks. 

 

We are still in search of anyone involved in the so-called “rebellion.” If you know anyone involved, do not hesitate to call the hotline, 111, and say so. If you are involved, turn yourself in. We will not harm you; we understand how they can trick you into helping them. We will help you. We will show you the correct way of thinking. If you turn yourself in, you will not be put under the death sentence. 

 

On a related note, we are still searching for the serial killer, coined Blurry. We have no information on who he is, no pictures except for blurred figures of a man in a black hooded coat. If you have any information, do not hesitate to call the hotline and tell us. If you fear you are a target, do not hesitate to call the hotline; we will protect you.

 

On a related note, we wish to reinform you that killing is against the law. We understand the benefits. We understand how it works. But killing is not worth it, for you or anyone else you wish to help. If you know someone who has killed, do not hesitate to call the hotline. If you have information on the science behind the trait-related phenomenon that comes with murder, do not hesitate to call the hotline.

 

That is all for today. We remind you to do your best with whatever you are doing, be it school, work, or something similar. Curfew is still Eleven PM. Good night.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter will have more substance. also, sorry it took to long to update! life started getting busy again. i promise i wont abandon any of my fics, though, it just might take a bit longer than i'd like to update. 
> 
> pls comment and/or kudos if you like this so far
> 
> also if you cant tell its gonna be a slow build


	5. vijf

Josh sighed happily, stretching a little in his bed and remembering where/when he was, exactly. Saturday, at his house, a few days after the happy realization that his drumset could not be heard from outside. Saturday, a day off from his job at a shipping company. Saturday, a day he can sleep in. He closed his eyes, planning on resting for a few more hours. 

 

Until he heard a knock on his door.

 

Groaning, he got up, pulling on some clothes (he doubted whoever was at the door would want to see him in his boxers) and ambling over to the door, opening it to find TJ. 

 

“Oh, uh, hi again,” Josh murmured, rubbing his eyes and blinking a little. TJ was slightly blurry in one eye, and Josh rubbed his eyes a bit more, until his vision was clear. 

 

“Oh, sorry, did you just wake up?” He seemed genuinely concerned over waking him up, Josh noted. 

 

“I was kind of already awake, just… not out of bed yet.” Josh said, smiling a little. “It’s fine though. What’s up?”

 

“Just wanted to, uh, say I was moving in down the road.”

 

“Decided the neighbors were good enough?” Josh asked, grinning. He didn’t mention that he doubted the man had visited anyone other than him; that might not end well. 

 

“Yeah,” TJ said, glancing away for a moment. Josh pretended not to notice. 

 

Josh nodded, taking in his new neighbor’s appearance in the silence that followed. A plain t-shirt with a floral robe over it, black skinny jeans, and floral-print shoes on a lanky man, just slightly taller than Josh, with short brown hair and eyes to match. His cheeks were flushed a bit, though Josh assumed that was from the slight bite to the air. He guessed fall was coming early this year. 

 

Josh took a moment to thank the government mentally for not banning odd styles of clothes; TJ really did look good in his outfit. Josh pushed that thought away. 

 

“So, why are you here again?” Josh asked eventually. 

 

“Uh,” TJ said quietly, eyes flicking away again; he was silent for a moment, then said, “I guess I just wanted to get to know you? You’re the only okay-ish neighbor I’ve met,” He said. Josh huffed imperceptibly; it was obvious he was lying. Josh pretended he didn’t notice, and pretended it wasn’t because a large part of him was intrigued by the man. 

 

“Well, if you want, you can come in and we can hang out for a bit. I don’t have work today, so,” Josh said, moving to the side to allow TJ to inside. He pushed away the thoughts arising in his head, questioning why he let this stranger into his house, because he didn’t quite know. He just trusted his judgement. 

 

“Basement’s off limits,” Josh said after a moment. “But we can watch TV or something, play vid-- I mean,”

 

TJ laughed. “I think the only censoring of stuff they enforce is on books; I haven’t heard of anyone getting in trouble over video games. Which games do you have?”

 

“Just some old ones,” Josh murmured, leading the other into his tiny living room, rushing ahead to clear the couch of clothes he was too lazy to fold. 

 

After about three hours of playing games, the two agreed on a break, TJ getting up to use the restroom while Josh just stretched, closing his eyes and bringing his arms back behind the couch. He stayed in that position for a while, recognizing the urge to play his drums but forcing it down. Now was not the time. He opened his eyes when he heard a small laugh. 

 

TJ was standing nearby, smiling a little. “Stretching?”

 

“Yeah.” Josh said, grinning and returning to a normal sitting position. TJ sat down next to him. 

 

“So why’d you let me in?”

 

Josh blinked, but didn’t reply. He was still trying to figure that out himself, because ‘trusting your instinct’ wasn’t really a good reason. Eventually he said, “You don’t seem like someone who’s gonna murder me in my sleep or something, so I thought I’d give you a chance.”

 

TJ was silent, looking down at his hands for a long moment. Josh looked away, noting that this silence wasn’t particularly comfortable. After a moment, TJ replied quietly. “Are you good at reading people?”

 

“I like to think I am,” Josh murmured, and glanced over to meet TJ’s eyes. “But I trust too much, too, so it balances out.”

 

TJ looked away. “It’s a good trait to have-- reading people, I mean,” 

 

Josh smiled, ignoring the odd wording. “Thanks.”

 

TJ didn’t meet his eyes; he didn’t question it. Eventually, his new neighbor stood up, and said quickly, “I think I have somewhere to be. I’ll see you around.” 

 

Before Josh had understood what he’d said, the man was gone. 

 

Josh let the smile fade from his face, staring at the spot where TJ had been for a moment before getting up and going down to play his drums. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo so later stuffs gonna happen but i need to know: do you guys like spender or dallon more
> 
> its v important
> 
> also sorry for slow updates, i keep forgetting to update oops


	6. update i'll delete later

hey so this is just an update, but this story specifically is gonna be put on hold until i finish my other one, no way out. i'm horrible at managing two major stories at once and i wanna give this the time it deserves when i get around to it, cause idk if you've noticed but after the first couple chapters my writing quality went pretty down the drain uwu so

but!! this means faster updates on no way out, which people seem to like more. i can see why tbh cause this one isn't very feel-good. at all. this is a really rough story. gonna be worse here soon. ugh. im sorry. 

but while this is on hold, i would like some feedback! on this entire thing in general, like things you'd like to see, and specifically: which should I use, dallon or spencer? and also specifically: should the 'big bad guy' be an OC or an actual character? i tend to dislike making OC's with a huge impact on the story, but I really don't wanna make like brendon or someone be the big bad person (obv not gonna be brendon but just for an example)

so feedback would be appreciated, and I'll pick this story back up here once the other one's finished!


End file.
